magazinesfromthepastfandomcom-20200214-history
Super Programs 5
Reviews Summary Popular Computing Weekly Issue 9 Writer: TB If your local W. H. Smith has a ZX81 counter, you will have noticed the rows of brightly-coloured software tapes somewhere nearby. The range is being extended all the time, but the original ICL tapes can be recognised by their bright orange and red cases, together with the rather more sombre brown and white-striped cases of the Educational Software. There are five tapes of programs for the unexpanded, 1K machine and some 14 tapes of 16K programs, including three games tapes and 11 educational/domestic tapes. Tape number 5 contains five games - Martian Knock-Out, Graffiti, Find The Mate, Labyrinth and Drop A Brick - and a Utility program for converting between English and Continental dress sizes. In Martian Knock-Out, the player, as the last defender of a beleaguered Earth, has 15 rockets left with which to annihilate the Martian hoards. The Martians look suspiciously like several pixels sitting stationary at one side of the screen while the player lobs deadly inverse characters at them. This program takes up almost two of the available 16K of RAM, and is quite typical of the poor graphics and lack of imagination of almost all the rest of the games on offer. Poor graphics might be acceptable, if some of the residue memory had been used for clever response, but unfortunately these are also missing, with the end of the game being signalled by a 9-600ish report. Graffiti is a drawing program, again using only 2K. Using the cursor keys, characters can be drawn across the screen, making some kind of picture. There is no SAVE routine - why not, there is lots of memory left? So the program cannot be of any practical use. This is a pity as there is also a great routine for printing ultra-large letters. Find the Mate is a pretty standard, and boring, pairs program. Labyrinth shows a plan view of a classical maze. There is treasure at the centre which the player has to obtain whilst avoiding the guards who move about the Maze as the player moves. If you meet one of these guards, the statement "captured and killed ..." is displayed and the program stops. Subtle, hey? Drop a Brick is about the poorest Breakout I have even seen. It is extremely slow, being written in Basic only, and the ball wanders about in a very drunken state. Continental is a utility program to convert from English to continental dress sizes and vice-versa. This is fairly useful, and, along the way, quite informative. For instance, did you know that continentals measure their bras under the bust, while we English measure across the bust? Summary These tapes are, on the whole, very disappointing. The available memory is certainly not used to capacity, and the lack of imagination in the use of graphics and responses is staggering. Keeping in mind the other tapes available nowadays at a similar price — and software from independent houses is getting more and more competitive - tapes 5 and 6 cannot really be recommended. Tape 8, containing STAR TRAIL is, however, very interesting. It is probably worth £4.95, when compared with other, similarly-priced programs. The best thing ICL could do, now the initial flush of ZX-mania is over, would be to combine the best of these programs - Star Trail, Journey into Danger and the conversion program — on to one tape. They might than have a viable product. Category:ZX81 Games Category:Sinclair Research Category:Popular Computing Weekly Reviews Category:ICL